Thomson snaps up stake in Konka electronics

SHANGHAI, Feb 2 (AFP) – Chinese electronics giant Konka Group said Wednesday its largest shareholder, Overseas Chinese Town Group, has won regulatory approval to sell a 4.82 percent stake in the company to Thomson SA of France.

“The deal, on top of the 3.16 percent stake Thomson bought last November, has increased the French company’s total interest in Konka to 7.98 percent,” the Chinese TV and mobile phone maker said in a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

The deal makes Thomson Konka’s fourth largest shareholder.

It paid CNY 156.6 million (EUR 14.4 million) for the Konka stake from Overseas Chinese Town Group, a Shenzhen-based tourism and real estate developer.

Konka launched talks with foreign partners more than a year ago in an effort to expand overseas amid cut-throat competition from rivals and tough anti-dumping measures imposed on it by the United States.

Thomson, the world’s largest television manufacturer, has a 33 percent stake in another Chinese venture TCL Corp, one of Konka’s fiercest rivals.

In the first nine months of 2004, Konka posted a 3.42 percent year-on-year rise in profits of CNY 56.85 million (EUR 5.25 million).